PS 2129 
.J2 S5 
1863 
Copy 1 



/^^. 77. 



THE 



SLEEPING SENTINEL. 



BY 



FRANCIS J)E HAES JANVIER, 

AUTHOR OP "THE SKELETON MONK," "THE VOYAGE OF LIFE, 
"THE PALACE OF THE C^SARS,'" AND OTHER POEMS. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

T. B. PETERSON k BROTHERS, 

306 CHESTNUT STREET. 



PRICE 10 CENTS. 



C 



THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 



THE 



SLEEPING SENTINEL. 



33 

BY 

FRAN"CIS DE HAES JANVIER., 

AUTHOR OP "THE SKELETON MONK," '<THE VOYAGE OF LIFE," "THE PALACE OP THE 
C^SARS," AND OTHER POEMS. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS. 

1863. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the j'ear 18G3, by 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON & CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 



PRINTED BY KINO & BAIRD. 



2. 4 / ^ "^ 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



The incidents here woven into verse relate to 
William Scott, a young soldier from the State of 
Vermont, who, while on duty as a sentinel at night, 
fell asleep, and, having been condemned to die, was 
pardoned by the President. They form a brief record 
of his humble life at home and in the field, and of his 
glorious death in defence of the Union. " 

This Poem was first read on Monday, January 
19th, 1863, by Mr. James E. Murdoch, the celebrated 
elocutionist, to a select circle at the Executive Mansion, 
in the presence of the President and Mrs. Lincoln. On 
the evening of the same day he read it in the Senate 
Chamber of the United States, which was specially 
appropriated for the purpose, — the President and Mrs. 
Lincoln being again present, together with one of the 
1* 5 



6 PEEFACE. 

largest and most distinguished audiences ever assem- 
bled in Washington. It was presented on this occasion 
anonymously, and produced a profound sensation. 

On the evening of February 5th, 1863, Mr. Murdocb 
read it, with a similar result, at the American Academy 
of Music, in Philadelphia, to more than three thousand 
persons, and then announced the name of the author. 
He has also read it, with the same success, in Balti- 
more, Albany, Boston, and other cities. 

It is now published, in compliance witb a general 
desire for its circulation. 



" ^he quality of mercy is not strained; 
It droppeth as the g-entle rain from heaven, 
Upon the place beneath : it is twice hless'd; 
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes : 
"Tis mightiest in the mightiest i it becomes 
Ihe throned monarch better than his crown : 
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 
The attribute to awe and majesty, 
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings / 
^ut mercy is above this sceptred sway, 
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
It is an attribute to G-od himself; 
Jlnd earthly power doth then show likest God's 
When mercy seasons justice.'' 

SHAKSPBA-BK. 



THE SLEEPING SENTINEL, 



'TWAS in the sultry summer-time, as War's red 

records show, 
When patriot armies rose to meet a fratricidal 

foe — 
When, from the North, and East, and West, like 

the upheaving sea. 
Swept forth Columbia's sons, to make our country 

truly free. 

Within a prison's dismal walls, where shadows 

vqiled decay — 
In fetters, on a heap of straw, a youthful soldier 

lay: 



10 THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 

Heart-broken, hopeless, and forlorn, with short and 

feverish breath, 
He waited but the appointed hour to die a culprit's 

death. 

Yet, but a few brief weeks before, untroubled with 

a care. 
He roamed at will, and freely drew his native 

mountain air — 
Where sparkling streams leap mossy rocks, from 

many a woodland font, 
And waving elms, and grassy slopes, give beauty 

to Vermont ! 

Where, dwelling in an humble cot, a tiller of the 

soil, 
Encircled by a mother's love, he shared a father's 

toil- 
Till, borne upon the wailing winds, his suffering 

country's cry 
Fired his young heart with fervent zeal, for her to 

live or die. 



THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 11 

Then left lie all: — a few fond tears, by firmness 

half concealed, 
A blessing, and a parting prayer, and he was in 

the field — 
The field of strife, whose dews are blood, whose 

breezes War's hot breath, 
Whose fruits are garnered in the grave, whose 

husbandman is Death ! 

Without a murmur, he endured a service new and 

hard ; 
But, wearied with a toilsome march, it chanced one 

night, on guard. 
He sank, exhausted, at his post, and the gray 

morning found 
His prostrate form — a sentinel, asleep, upon the 

ground! 

So, in the silence of the night, aweary, on the 

sod, 
Sank the disciples, watching near the suffering Son 

of God; — 



12 THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 

Yet, Jesus, with compassion moved, beheld their 

heavy eyes. 
And, though betrayed to ruthless foes, forgiving, 

bade them rise ! 

But God is love, — and finite minds can faintly 

comprehend 
How gentle Mercy, in His rule, may with stern 

Justice blend ; 
And this poor soldier, seized and bound, found 

none to justify, 
While War's inexorable law decreed that he must 

die. 



'Twas night. — In a secluded room, with measured 

tread, and slow, 
A statesman of commanding mien, paced gravely 

to and fro. 



THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 13 

Oppressed, lie pondered on a land by civil discord 

rent; 
On brothers armed in deadly strife: — it was tbe 

President ! 

Tbo woes of thirty millions filled his burdened 
heart with grief; 

Embattled hosts, on land and sea, acknowledged him 
their chief; 

And yet, amid the din of war, he heard the plaint- 
ive cry 

Of that poor soldier, as he lay in prison, doomed 
to die I 



*Twas morning. — On a tented field, and through 

the heated haze, 
Mashed back, from lines of burnished arms, the 

sun's efiulgent blaze ; 

2 



14 THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 

"While, from a sombre prison-house, seen slowly to 

emerge, 
A sad procession, o'er the sward, moved to a muffled 

dirge. 

And in the midst, with faltering step, and pale and 

anxious face. 
In manacles, between two guards, a soldier had his 

place. 
A youth — led out to die ; — and yet, it was not death, 

but shame, 
That smote his gallant heart with dread, and shook 

his manly frame ! 

Still on, before the marshalled ranks, the train 

pursued its way 
Up to the designated spot, whereon a coffin 

lay— 
His coffin ! And, with reeling brain, despairing — 

desolate — 
He took his station by its side, abandoned to his 

fate! 



THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 15 

Then came across his wavering sight strange 

pictures in the air : — 
He saw his distant mountain home; he saw his 

parents there; 
He saw them bowed with hopeless grief, through 

fast-declining years ; 
He saw a nameless grave; and then, the vision 

closed-^in tears ! 

Yet, once again. In double file, advancing, then, 
he saw 

Twelve comrades, sternly set apart to execute the 
law — 

But saw no more : — his senses swam — deep dark- 
ness settled round — 

And, shuddering, he awaited now the fatal volley's 
sound ! 

Then suddenly was heard the noise of steeds and 

wheels approach,— 
And, rolling through a cloud of dust, appeared a 

stately coach. 



16 THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 

On, past the guards, and throngb. the field, its 

rapid course was bent, 
Till, halting, 'mid the lines was seen the nation's 

President ! 

He came to save that stricken soul, now waking 

from despair ; 
And from a thousand voices rose a shout which 

rent the air ! 
The pardoned soldier understood the tones of 

jubilee, 
And, bounding from his fetters, blessed the hand 

that made him free ! 



'Twas Spring. — Within a verdant vale, where 

"Warwick's crystal tide 
Eeflected, o'er its peaceful breast, fair fields on 

either side — 



THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 17 

Where birds and flowers combined to clieer a 

sylvan solitude — 
Two threatening armies, face to face, in fierce 

defiance stood ! 

Two threatening armies ! One invoked by injured 
Liberty — 

"Which bore above its patriot ranks the Symbol of 
the Free ; 

And one, a rebel horde, beneath a flaunting flag 
of bars, 

A fragment, torn by traitorous hands, from Free- 
dom's Stripes and Stars ! 

A sudden burst of smoke and flame, from many a 

thundering gun, 
Proclaimed, along the echoing hills, the conflict had 

begun ; 
While shot and shell, athwart the stream with 

fiendish fury sped, 
To strew among the living lines, the dying and the 

dead! 

2* 



18 THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 

Then, louder than the roaring storm, pealed forth 

the stern command, 
" Charge ! soldiers, charge !" and, at the word, with 

shouts, a fearless band. 
Two hundred heroes from Vermont, rushed onward, 

through the flood. 
And upward, o'er the rising ground, they marked 

their way in blood ! 

The smitten foe before them fled, in terror, from 
his post — 

While, unsustained, two hundred stood, to battle 
with a host ! 

Then, turning, as the rallying ranks, with murder- 
ous fire, replied. 

They bore the fallen o'er the field, and through the 
purple tide ! 

The fallen ! And the first Wio fell in that unequal 

strife, 
Was he whom Mercy sped to save when Justice 

claimed his life — 



THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 19 

The pardoned soldier! And, while yet the conflict 

raged around — 
While yet his life-blood ebbed away through every 

gaping wound — 

While yet his voice grew tremulous, and death 

bedimmed his eye — 
He called his comrades to attest, he had not feared 

to die! 
And, in his last expiring breath, a pr?oyer to heaven 

was sent — 
That God, with His unfailing grace, would bless 

our President ! 



THE END. 




LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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